The chief prosecutor in the genocide trial of Saddam Hussein has called for the judge to stand down, saying he is biased towards the former Iraqi leader. Munqith al-Faroon said defendants had been given too much room to threaten witnesses and make political speeches. Judge Abdullah al-Amiri rejected the request, saying his approach was based on fairness and 25 years' experience. Saddam Hussein and six others are on trial for war crimes against the Kurds during the so-called Anfal campaign. "Defendants have gone too far, with unacceptable expressions and words. Defendants have uttered clear threats," Mr Faroon said at the opening of the latest hearing. Mr Amiri defended his conduct, saying: "A judge should co-ordinate and make peace so nobody takes advantage of his fairness... I have been working in the judicial system for the past 25 years." In heated exchanges on Tuesday the former Iraqi leader threatened to "crush the head" of a lawyer of one witness for the prosecution... http://news.bbc.co.uk

There is no such thing as Gulf War syndrome, even though U.S. and foreign veterans of the war report more symptoms of illness than do soldiers who didn't serve there, a federally funded study concludes. U.S. and foreign veterans of the Gulf War do suffer from an array of very real problems, according to the Veterans Administration-sponsored report released Tuesday. Yet there is no one complex of symptoms to suggest those veterans — nearly 30 percent of all those who served — suffered or still suffer from a single identifiable syndrome. With the track record of government lying over the years, who wants to bet they are telling the truth this time? I don’t say they are lying, but I wouldn’t bet any money that they are actually telling the truth this time ...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14801666/

Gunmen ambushed and killed a police chief in the Mexican border state of Nuevo Leon Tuesday in the latest slaying of a law officer in a region ravaged by a war between drug gangs. Enrique Barrera, police chief of the town of Linares, about 135 miles southwest of the border at McAllen, Texas, was shot dead as he left his home to go to work, said Nuevo Leon Attorney General Carlos Trevino. Trevino said the killing had the hallmarks of an organized crime hit, but he needed to gather more evidence before making a conclusive statement. A lone gunman killed Nuevo Leon's top investigator, Marcelo Garza, last week outside an art gallery near the northern city of Monterrey. Trevino said there was no evidence the two killings were related. It’s hard to know who are the Criminals today, those in Cop Uniforms, or those in Civvies. Maybe flip a coin?...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2427809

Two allies who frequently talk past each other will talk directly this week when South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun meets with President Bush for a White House working visit tomorrow. The summit comes amid delicate talks over the command of South Korean troops in wartime and a larger debate on both sides about the purpose and future of an alliance forged in a Cold War conflict that ended more than a half century ago. "I still believe the fundamentals of the strategic alliance are strong, but there is an awful lot of bad noise surrounding our relationship with South Korea," said Michael Green, point man for Asian affairs at the National Security Council in Mr. Bush's first term who is now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It will take a good bit of management on our side to keep the relationship healthy," he said. But the Roh government's policy of engaging North Korea contrasts with Washington's hardening line against Pyongyang over its nuclear programs. ...http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20060913-123246-3716r.htm

Drinking green tea can substantially cut the risk of dying from a range of illnesses, a Japanese study has found. The research, which looked at over 40,000 people, found the risk of fatal cardiovascular disease was cut by more than a quarter. But British heart experts said the benefits may be linked to the whole Japanese diet, which is healthier than that eaten in the west. The work is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Tea is the most consumed beverage in the world, aside from water. Three billion kilograms of tea are produced each year worldwide. Studies carried out in laboratories and on animals have suggested green tea in particular has extensive health benefits. In this study, which began in 1994, researchers from Tohoku University, looked at how humans could benefit. They examined data on 40,530 healthy adults aged 40 to 79 in north-eastern Japan, where green tea is widely consumed. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5334836.stm

When a giant new oil field was discovered recently in the Gulf of Mexico — possibly the biggest domestic field unearthed in 30 years — it was good news for America's energy front. It should have been great news for taxpayers, too. That's because under leases with the U.S. Interior Dept, oil companies typically agree to pay taxpayers generous royalties on their finds — after all, the oil companies drill in public waters. But members of Congress are raising questions as to whether taxpayers will get their due from all of the oil brought up in the new field, due to a costly mistake in some leases that actually exempts oil companies from paying royalties. A federal inquiry has been trying to get to the bottom of just who gave big oil this big break. It happened eight years ago: Leases issued for deep-water drilling in the Gulf in 1998 and 1999 released oil companies from paying the royalties even if the price of oil escalated to incredible heights, as they have in recent months...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/12/politics/main2001197.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._2001197